SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | | REPRINT
|
Quick Tips: Designing an Effective Monitoring Policy
September 02, 2008
By Sarah Boehle
• Be specific. A policy that merely informs employees that a company "reserves the right to monitor" and tells them they have "no reasonable right to an expectation of privacy in the workplace" is insufficient, says ePolicy Institute Executive Director Nancy Flynn. Instead, your policy should include explanations regarding who will be monitored, who will conduct the monitoring, which activities and information will be monitored, and how monitoring-related data will be used.
Good policies also spell out the repercussions employees who violate company policies will face. "You should spell out the fact that any violation may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination," says Flynn, "and detail what that disciplinary action will entail—whether it's immediate termination, a 'three strikes and you're out' system, or a monetary fine."
• Be clear. Don't allow legalese to obfuscate the meaning of your policy, advises Paul Wood, a senior analyst at MessageLabs Ltd., an e-mail security and compliance software company based in New York, NY. "If you make this mistake, no one will read the policy, let alone understand it and be able to comply with it." A good policy, says Wood, is written in clear, simple language, and includes plenty of examples and visuals to facilitate employee understanding.
• Be extensive. If employees take a company laptop home and connect to the corporate network, will their activities be monitored? If so, be sure to spell this out in your policy. Don't forget to address social networking and blogging in both your policy and your training, either. According to the ePolicy Institute/AMA survey,12 percent of companies currently monitor the blogosphere to see what is being written about them, and 10 percent monitor social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
• Be reasonable. Spell out exactly where you stand on the personal use issue, and provide employees with details regarding how often and when it's OK to shop online or send a friend an e-mail, and how much personal use is acceptable on a given day. And be reasonable. "American workers today put in more on-the-job hours than at any time in history," says Flynn in the 2001 edition of "The ePolicy Handbook." "For employees who leave the house before dawn and don't return until well past dark, e-mail may be the most efficient and effective way to stay in touch with family members. For the sake of employee morale and retention, savvy employers generally are willing to accommodate their employees' need to check in electronically with children and spouses."
Sidebar: Quick Tips: Designing Effective Monitoring Training
Back to cover story: Employee Monitoring: They're Watching You…
|
SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS |
|
|
| Back to Training Index |
|
|
